TOrner
Next dinner with the mayor. Our next
dinner with Mayor Jones will be on Friday,
October 12, at 5:30 p.m. at The Country Club
of the Crystal Coast, 152 Oakleaf Drive in Pine
Knoll Shores. All are welcome.
Beach nourishment project. Pine Knoll
Shores and Atlantic Beach are working with
the Carteret County Shore Protection Office
toward a project in the winter of 2019-2020.
This project would use sand from U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers port dredging work in Morehead City. Present plans are for
750,000 cubic yards of sand to be placed along the entire 4.5-mile frontage of Pine
Knoll Shores, at a cost of $1.6 million to the town. To put this into perspective,
the large project of 2001 placed just over one million cubic yards of sand, and cost
the town a little over $9 million (to include interest on the bond which funded the
project at that time). The project is dependent on the federal budget that will be
released this coming February. The port normally receives funding for dredging
each year, but the amount and timing of this are critical for us.
Sidewalk on the west side of Pine Knoll Boulevard. The town and the
developer who is planning on building homes on the 9.3 acre tract at the
intersection of Pine Knoll Boulevard and Highway 58 have agreed to place
sidewalks on the west side of Pine Knoll Boulevard. Current plans call for this
sidewalk to be 1,900 linear feet, and run from town hall south to the traffic signal.
Town ordinance requires the developer to build a sidewalk immediately adjacent
to the 9.3 acre lot; however, the town requested that the sidewalk be placed on
the west side of the street as this is consistent with our pedestrian master plan.
Construction on this sidewalk may begin as soon as the spring of 2019.
Storm water work on Pine Knoll Boulevard/Live Oak Court. Concurrent
with the construction of the sidewalk mentioned above, the town is exploring
the option of improving storm water management in the Pine Knoll Boulevard
and Live Oak Court areas. There are two French drain collection systems on the
east and west side of Pine Knoll Boulevard, and we are investigating installing a
drain line which moves the water from these collection systems into the low-lying
wetland to the west. We are exploring the permitting options on this now.
New flood maps. The new flood maps that have been discussed here over the
last couple of years are scheduled to become effective in July 2019, according
to the NC Department of Public Safety. There are no paper maps; the maps are
available online at fris.nc.gov/fris. The best way to determine how your property
was impacted is to call your insurer and ask them to tell you. Any reputable insurer
should know how to negotiate the online maps.
Oyster farming in Bogue Sound off Pine Knoll Shores. As many are aware,
the first lease application for an oyster farm in Bogue Sound off Pine Knoll Shores
has been submitted to the NC Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF). On July 17 we
had a very informative public briefing on DMF’s oyster shell fish leasing program.
While the town supports oyster aquaculture in North Carolina, we have asked
DMF if we can have a voice in the application review process, with an objective to
ensure that lease areas do not conflict with traditional boating and recreation areas
used by our citizens. Please visit files.secureserver.net/OfK3Bc4qmTAObJ to access
a copy of the DMF briefing and a map detailing the location of the proposed oyster
farm.
Proper use of the town’s garbage/recycling station at Lot C. Several years ago
the town opened up a household garbage/recycling site in Lot C, adjacent to the
public safety building. This was done in recognition of the valid complaint on the
part of second-home owners that they had no way to place garbage/recycling out
when *^hey left for home, and have the empty containers removed from the curb on
Mv ^ .vening. We later added yard debris to the mix so home gardeners could
carry a truck or utility trailer full of debris to the site if they just couldn’t wait
for the next scheduled pickup. Despite the occasional slam-packed weekend and
despite the strong response from Waste Industries that unmanned convenience
sites often become disposal sites for everything under the sun, we chose to provide
this service to our citizens. We aie the only municipality in the county to have a
site like this, and it is a testimony to the type of owners we have that it works as well
as it does, occasional hiccups notwithstanding. Unfortunately, we have had more
than our normal share of irresponsibility at Lot C this summer. Recently Public
Services Director Sonny Cunningham removed a mattress and box spring that had
been left at the site (to prevent the impression that Lot C is a general dump area),
and last month he stopped a couple trying to load solar panels into the dumpster
intended for household garbage.
This area is marked with signage and most know that this town convenience site
is for the plastic bag of garbage that came out of your kitchen, the bag of bottles/cans/
recyclables from your home, and the yard debris from your yard. In addition, it is for
Pine Knoll Shores residents and property owners, not contractors or folks from other
towns.
While not asking anyone to be an enforcement officer, if you see someone
dumping mattresses, solar panels, TVs, washers/dryers, rusted lawn furniture, or
just about anything else that a reasonable person should know is not intended for
this site, please consider discreetly snapping a photo of a license plate and sending it
to me at manager@townofpks.com with the date, time and a description of the item
being tossed. Sometimes a simple phone call stops this activity in its tracks. We don’t
want to have any confrontations, and we are not asking anyone to approach another
person.
Disposable bags for yard debris. We sell disposable yard waste bags at the front
desk at town hall. Many citizens in town are already using these bags and we would
like to encourage more to do so. They are enviro-friendly, easy to work with, and
reasonably priced. These bags were purchased tax-free from a local vendor, and we
are selling them at cost.
Sign up for town emails for storm alerts. We send email alerts during all storm
emergencies. This is a good way to keep apprised of all things storm related. Send
an email to Town Clerk Sarah Williams at swilliams@townofpks.com to be added to
the list.
Third Annual PKS
Fishing Tournament
By Bill Steenland
It’s getting closer. The 2018 Pine Knoll Shores Fishing Tournament will be held
on Saturday, October 20. The tournament is open to all people living in Pine Knoll
Shores, family members, property owners and town employees—so be sure to
invite your kids and grandkids to town so they can be a part of this fim event. You
can fish from the surf, a pier, a kayak or a boat. There are no age limits, and all
are welcome. Of course, anyone 16 or older will need an NC recreational fishing
license.
This is an inshore tournament, so the kinds of fish that may be entered are
limited to flounder (if the season doesn’t close), red drum (must be between 18 and
27 inches in length), speckled trout, gray trout (weakfish), bluefish, sea mullet, and
sheepshead.
Again this year we will have a kids tournament for all kids 12 and under. Young
fishermen entered in the main tournament will be entered automatically into the
kids tournament—two for the price of one. Eligible fish for the kids are spot, lizard
fish, oyster toads, croaker and pinfish.
We will have another fun weigh-in at McNeill Park beginning at 4 pm. There will
be a leader board, refreshments, fish tales, tee shirts, a lot of hoopla—and a trophy
for the largest fish in each species.
The entry fee is $10 per person, and will benefit the Crystal Coast Hospice
House. The rules and other information will be put out before the tournament.
Beginning in October, hopeful anglers will be able to register and get a copy of the
rules at the public safety building and town hall.
Please mark your calendars now and plan to join your town in the Third Annual
Fishing Tournament on October 20. The rain date will be October 27.
20
The Shoreline I September 2018